ROLAND HETHERINGTON

DavidS_1955

In the interest of removing interpretive ambiguity, the question should read: "Have the apologies for the Koran burning at Bagram had possitive or negative impact?" Were the current question to be interpreted using the implied "yes" or "no" as presented, the intended outcome could easily be easily misconstrued.

DavidS_1955

As for the Koran burning, were an apology to have come from a leader confident in the institution he represents, the outcome would not have so welcomed violent dissent. However, posited with his usual feeble foreign policy impotence, President Obama's utterance wreaks of immaturity and begs the authority of someone with long pants--someone who, like my Old Man, could command authority and demand respenct, yet demonstrate honor and compassion. His apology ended a matter; it did not fuel discontent.

signman

"Have the aplogies for the Koran burning at Bagram had a positive or negative impact?"
What our Commander In Chief has done is to weaken the moral and position of our troops, and our stature, in not only that country, but in Europe. We bring back the bodies of our American soldiers, and civilians, and watch the rioting, fueled by his "apology." If he had taken a more positive political, and military approach, many lives might have have been spared. What he did "behind closed doors" is another matter.

DavidS_1955

Hey, signman. I agree--please see my follow-up comment. But, someone could easily reference the results of this poll by stating, " ... an American Legion poll proves veterans believe President Obama's apology had NO impact." Note the results: only 5% of respondents say YES as worded. There is no limit to the political spin that can and will be placed on polls due to ambiguous wording.

wpherris

Our leader (I use this word out of respect for the office not the individual holding it) continues to embarrass every person in the military and every citizen in this country. The response should have been from a position of strength knowing that the books were being used to communicate and had in fact been defaced, which violates the Koran. They were justifiably destroyed.

Namvet378

wpherris,
I agree. those BOOKS, were written on in the columns and according to their imams, that is an act of Blasphemy. Of the Muslim aproved lists of prober disposal of the desecrated book, BURNING is one of them.

wc_70

I think people do not have a grasp of the radical muslim religion. It is a religion of retribution (revenge) for anything perceived as being against it.
I do not think we should have apologised at all. According to the reports I have read, there were subversive messages written in the texts and because of that they should have very quietly dissappeared.
period.

ehergert

Who writes these yes or no scenarios, I have yet to see one that would support my feelings. I believe the president did the right thing with the apology. Since the incident became public knowledge world wide a statement had to be made. Saying nothing would have been worse. This was more than an affront to the afghan people; it affected people around the world many of them our allies. If you wish to win over a people you cannot disrespect their religion or their way of life. Think back to last time you felt disrespected and was an apology enough. I don’t believe that morale is affected or our standing in the eyes of the rest of the world nor did it make us weaker. Its easy for us to criticize when we are not the ones who have to make difficult decisions. The killings had nothing to do with the apology, only the incident.

DavidS_1955

I do. And, to begin with, you need to learn how to use a comma. Albeit, concerning the topic, my Commander and Chief needs to grow up. This is not a game played inside some college bubble... This is the reality faced by Greeks at Thermopili, Scotts at Hadrian's wall, Yankees at Gettysburg, and G.I.s at Normandy... I can say nothing more. Well... other than perhaps you too would do well to read a bit of history. You're welcome at my campfire to discuss at length.

cjones1688

President Obama did the right thing in apologizing. Muslims are not mad about the apology, they are mad about the complete lack of respect we show for their religion and their way of life. If we would paint an accurate picture in the media of the majority of Muslims there would not be as much hate going in both directions. The minority of extremist Muslims are the ones getting all of the attention in the media. We need an honest discourse on what the religion is really about and how the people actually feel, then and only then when we be able to see a decrease in the hostilities. We need our troops to understand the cultures they are in or else we will continue to have incidents like this are not only harmful to the troops themselves but to the dignity of our entire nation.

santaearl

If one AMERICAN was killed over the burnning of those books,we should kill every one of them. What's wrong with our country? I thought we were over there to help those people, there crazy,crazy. I saw on CNN little children carrying signs saying KILL ALL AMERICANS ,5 and 6 year old children. What going to happen when they get older? I guess our country will have to fight them to? We can never win those people over???

america1949

If Obama were President during WWII he would have apologized for US troops in France burning the Nazi flags. We no longer fight wars to win. They are political moves to keep Generals employed. Too many high ranking officers these days are more concerned about being politically correct than winning. Commander in Chief Obama was duck hunting with his democrat buddies in November. They ask him why he had no shotgun. Obama replied he would talk the ducks down.

DavidS_1955

cjones1688: Dude! Tell me how many Moslems were martyred last year. And, I don't mean idiots who strap bombs on their bodies in order to get 72 virgins for eternity which begs one to wonder what those poor virgins might have to say of their eternal suffering at the hands of a madman. The answer is 0--yes, zero--Moslems killed simply for being Muslim. Contrast that with the UN report numbering Christians killed for simply being Christian as over 105,000 in 2011 alone. That's more that 287 every five minutes. Congress is today taking action to attempt preemption of the execution of a pastor in Iran because he won't deny his Christian faith. But we don't hear about the thousands of others in Iranian prisons for professing Christianity. The same is true in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lybia, and throughout the Middle East. The largest Muslim population is in Malaysia where being Christian is tantamount to suicide; and, it ain't Hindus killing them. Polls of even moderate Moslems betray a pervasive desire for Israel to disappear. Islam... Religion of peace? Give me a break.

One qualification: Sunis and Shiites hate and kill one another for simply being Suni or Shiite. But, what the hay... Let 'em have at it.

DavidS_1955

bones48

We had a good system when I was there (Helmand Province). When a cultural friction point arose..we called our "Dream Team"..made up of four to six coopeartive local Mullahs and Village Elders who we quickly flew in to assess the event and then THEY got ot the radio from the local District leader's office and told the truth about the event. They would have been called in and those Korans would have been turned over to them...likelt disposed appropraitly and likely they would have let the word out that they had been desecrated (writing) by other Muslims and the Americans did not do anything disrespectful. Respecting the Pashtun culture and their traditions went a long way when we were there in 2009-10. Other ISAF forces were literally hated by the Afghans..for being arrogant and not being respectful to them .
As far as the apology tour by our POTUS.
All who know Pashtuns know they respect strength..when a Western man does this with weakened knees...he is seen as weak, cowardly and untrustworthy.
I am not clear why those involved here did not adhere to a viable policy which would have avoided this mess. Not exactly rocket science and was used effectively to make gains the IO campaign (owned by the Taliban) in Helmand Province during my tour 2009-2010 with Task Force Leatherneck

freetime

Obama is a disgrace to the USA !!! No way should he or any other American apoligize to these idiots! They supposedly were using them to pass messages against our troops. They never apologized when they burned our Bibles, the B.....ds!! Obama should be thrown out of office,he's USELESS! Burn them all

santaearl

judson21

why should we apologise when they were useing that comic book for transmitting messages , they defiled their own book . they are just looling for an excuse to cause problems. time for our gov. to step up and stop theis type of BS.